[c2z4s9]

I would like to report that my system time is constantly being reset to 2005 every time the system boots up (Windows 2000 machine). However, I seriously doubt that it is a CMOS / battery issue. If I change the year to 2007 and then reboot into safe mode the year is correct (2007).

[c2z4s9]

Ozrom1e had posted

"It appears to me that since BIOS has the correct time and date and this only changes when Windows loads that this must be a problem with Windows 2000, I think it is in the registry and would suggest doing a repair-installation of Windows 2000. First I would suggest backing up all of the important data on the hard drive(s) to another media like CD-R's, DVD or thumb drive just to keep the data safe and sound.

For doing the repair-install take a look at this site:

http://www.windows2000.windowsreinstall.com/"

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I could do a repair of the registry, but then I would not understand what is causing this change in the first place. I would rather try to struggle through this a little bit to determine what exactly is going on (if it is possible).

I have tried the following. I turned on system auditing to see who is making these time changes and the results were ... interesting.

After making this change I reset the time to 2007, and the event log reported that my account had made a privileged use of the "SeSystemtimePrivilege", and the time was successfully changed to 2007.

Reboot

Checked the time -- it is indeed 2005 now. Who changed it? According to the System log, nobody changed the time. I found not one instance of this privileged use.

I changed the time back to 2007 and my change showed up in the log.

I went into the "Local Security Policy" and removed everyones right to "Change the system time"

Reboot

Time is again year 2005. Still, no one changed the time according to system auditing. If I go to make a change, I do not have the rights to do so (so my security policy change did work).

[gleneroo]

Hello ! I have the same problem. A few things to add to your diagnosis, maybe it helps to see where the problem is (I also tried the solution to run many scans in safe mode, but unfortunately the problem is still there):
- same, in "safe mode", the date is correct.
- in normal mode, the year is always reset to 2005. It is not two years back (I mean if I changed the year to 2009 for instance, when I start it will be back to 2005)
- if I change anything else (time, time zone, etc), changes remain.

[c2z4s9]

I would love to say that I have figured this out, but unfortunately I have not. I have not stopped trying.

I have also tried running antivirus software in safe mode. The antivirus software supposedly did find a few bugs, but removing them did not seem to help this 2005 problem.

I have visited the microsoft update site and patched Windows 2000 so that it is current now, but that did not resolve the problem.

It seems that the system is free of viruses and "spyware", etc, yet still has this problem. And the problem essentially occurs in such a way that it is not-loggable (is that a word?) by any of the system logging mechanisims (sp?).

There are precious few other people having this problem and the other searches that I have conducted have turned up nadda.

[DVOM]

What makes you think it's not a battery issue? Batteries go dead all the time and often new ones are bad out of the box.

[ozrom1e]

It is one of several things:

1 A bad or going bad CMOS battery

2 Might be the wrong battery in the motherboard

3 A problem With Windows

4 A bad timing chip on the motherboard

5 Possibly a corrupt area in the registry.

6 A cold solder joint on the motherboard somewhere.

7 A defective battery holder on the motherboard.

8 It might be possibly an infection of some sort.

Plus lots of other things it could even be something on the surface of the battery stopping conductivity from the battery. I had one that the person that owned the computer was an avid smoker like he made a chain look like it was broken he smoked so much, a little alcohol solved that after we cleaned the battery off.

[c2z4s9]

In responce to DVOM.

I do not think it's a battery issue because...
If you boot the machine up in safe mode and change the time to (lets say) 2007 you can happily run the system in safe mode forever. Reboot the machine, come back up in safe mode -- the time is still 2007. Shut the machine off, boot up in safe mode -- 2007. If you let the machine boot up "normally" into windows, the year is 2005.

[ozrom1e]

With the price of these batteries say at WalMart I think it is cheap enough to try changing the battery just to see what happens. You can reason all you want and if the battery just does not have it then.

[c2z4s9]

Well, that's a fair enough argument. I will be battery testing and get back to you folks.

[DVOM]

As a former auto tech, I can tell you batteries can do some extremely odd things.